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Taking on the garment industry
We have to face down the government’s bonfire of regulations, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE MP — businesses, retailers and brands who profit from the exploitation of Leicester’s garment workers need more scrutiny and supervision, not less

THE government’s plan to remove small and medium businesses from regulation is typical of a madcap government that loves announcements but ignores reality as we have already seen in Kwasi Kwarteng’s U-turn on tax cuts. We need clarity urgently and in reality, we need more regulation and enforcement, not less.

Since being elected to represent my home city, I have been campaigning to end the scourge of exploitation that has plagued sections of Leicester’s garment industry for decades. Leicester is a tragic example of how the fast-fashion industry creates exploitation across the world.

The scandalous mistreatment of workers in my community is best understood as an extreme microcosm of the national and global decay of workers’ rights during the failed neoliberal project of the last 40 years.

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